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After more than a decade working in projects, maintenance, and operations, I've learned that reliability is rarely a technology problem.

Most organizations already have procedures, software, KPIs, maintenance plans, and technical standards. Yet many still struggle with recurring failures, schedule deviations, and unplanned downtime.

In my experience, the difference often comes down to people.

Reliability begins when operators, technicians, planners, engineers, supervisors, and managers share the same objective and understand how their daily decisions impact asset performance. The best maintenance strategies I've seen were not necessarily the most sophisticated-they were the ones supported by strong communication, discipline, accountability, and teamwork.

As our industry continues to adopt new technologies, predictive analytics, and digital tools, I believe we should continue asking ourselves a simple question:

What has had the greatest impact on reliability in your organization: technology, processes, or people?

I would be interested in hearing your perspective and experiences.

Couldn't agree more. Processes and Procedures only work when they become Practices. What converts them from one to the other? People!

This is very true and a tool is only as good as its user. In the field, bad data is just as dangerous as no data. Having advanced tools is meaningless without proper field execution, as flawed data is just as detrimental as a complete lack of information.  (communication, discipline, accountability, and teamwork) make the dream work

• Competence = Skills, experience, training
• Commitment = Attitude, ownership, discipline
• Culture = Team and organizational behaviors
• Conditions = Fatigue, workload, environment
• Procedures = Standards, SOS, PM instructions, troubleshooting guides.

I strongly agree that reliability starts with people.

A good example from my experience was at the Syama operation in Mali West Africa. We were experiencing recurring reliability issues within the crusher circuit, resulting in downtime, production losses, and frustration across both operations and maintenance teams.

Rather than immediately looking for new technology or more sophisticated monitoring tools, we focused on people and behaviours.

We spent time coaching operators to better understand the equipment, identify abnormal conditions, and take ownership of early defect identification. At the same time, maintenance teams became more engaged with operational performance and the impact equipment reliability had on production outcomes.

We encouraged operators and maintainers to work together, discuss failures openly, and jointly own the results. Basic practices such as listening for changes in equipment condition, identifying unusual vibration or noise, improving inspections, and increasing communication between crews created a significant shift in culture.

The result was a noticeable improvement in crusher circuit reliability and plant performance. The technology did not change dramatically-the people did.

This experience reinforced a key lesson for me:

People create reliability.
Processes sustain reliability.
Technology accelerates reliability.

I found when operators and maintainers feel ownership and understand how their daily actions influence plant performance, reliability becomes part of the culture rather than simply another KPI.

I completely agree. Technology can accelerate reliability, but it cannot replace the fundamentals that sustain it.

The most advanced CMMS, predictive analytics, or AI platform will deliver limited value if work execution lacks discipline, data quality is poor, or teams are not aligned around a common objective.

In my experience, sustainable reliability is built on the intersection of people, processes, and technology, with people as the driving force. When operators, maintenance, engineering, and leadership share ownership of asset performance, failures become learning opportunities rather than recurring events.

Technology enables better decisions, but culture determines whether those decisions are consistently executed. Organizations that invest equally in capability, collaboration, and continuous improvement are the ones that achieve lasting gains in reliability and operational performance.